Marsha Wilson Chall

Marsha Wilson Chall

Biography

Born and raised in Min­neso­ta as an only child, Mar­sha Wil­son Chall amused her­self in day­dream and now sets those dreams in the sto­ryscapes of lakes, woods, prairie, and beyond (even France). She hopes her books invite the read­er to explore new des­ti­na­tions, both out­ward and inward.

Chall has pub­lished a children’s chap­ter book and eleven pic­ture books, includ­ing Pick a PupOne Pup’s UpUp North at the Cab­in, and Bona­parte. Her books have received numer­ous awards: an Inter­na­tion­al Read­ing Asso­ci­a­tion Teacher’s Choice Award, Amer­i­can Book­sellers Pick of the Lists, Par­ents Choice, NAPPA Gold Award, and Smith­son­ian Notable recognition.

When she’s not writ­ing or shar­ing her love of good books at schools or con­fer­ences, she edits writ­ers’ man­u­scripts and teach­es pri­vate work­shops and uni­ver­si­ty class­es, most recent­ly in the MFA pro­gram in Writ­ing for Chil­dren and Young Adults at Ham­line Uni­ver­si­ty. She has two grown chil­dren and four grow­ing grand­chil­dren and lives up North at her cab­in with her dog, books, ani­mal friends, and human visitors.

Eudo­ra Wel­ty said that “chil­dren, like ani­mals, use all their sens­es to dis­cov­er the world. Then artists come along and dis­cov­er it the same way, all over again.” So I write to inter­pret and pre­serve expe­ri­ence, to cap­ture it so it can nev­er be lost. Writ­ing for chil­dren allows me that joy of expe­ri­enc­ing the world over and over again for the first time. Adults lose this child­like appre­ci­a­tion and dis­cov­ery through over-com­pli­ca­tion. I like to make the com­plex sim­ple. Not sim­ple-mind­ed, but pared down to the essential. 
Marsha Wilson